Destiny
by Katia11
Summary: "She'd been a fool, she'd admit that.  The Nuns had warned her, but she had not listened. And yet now, despite all she'd been through, she didn't regret a single choice she'd made."


So, I know that there have been thousands of one-shots like this. But, not nearly so long, so I'm sorry. Enjoy! Love, Katie

I don't own Avatar: The Last Airbender, or the song I Dreamed a Dream which this was written to and inspired by.

Destiny

She'd been a fool, she'd admit that. The Nuns had warned her, but she had not listened. And yet, despite all she'd been through, she didn't regret a single choice she'd made.

"Can I see him now?" she whispered, her body was so weak she could barely utter the words.

-x-

Once she'd been an airbending prodigy. All of the Nuns were amazed by her natural skill with the element. She was the only girl who had achieved the level of 'master' by the time she was sixteen in over a century. Her guardian and teacher, Sister Lio loved her like a mother and spoiled her ferociously.

She had loved her life at the Eastern Air Temple. She loved it so much that she used to dream of becoming a Nun just like Sister Lio.

It had all been _perfect_ until that summer day. It was about a month after her sixteenth birthday. It had started out like any other day, sitting with Lio in her chamber.

"Malu, would you go and pick some flowers for my window. It needs some color, don't you think?"

Malu nodded and took off without a second thought. Her long hair was flowing freely in the wind as she flew around looking for pretty flowers for the window. It had started innocently enough, but she got farther and farther away from the Air Temple. Until finally she was so far away that she couldn't even see the Air Temple. That's when she finally found a patch of beautiful White Lotus's She lowered herself into the field and began picking a few of the beautiful flower.

"Hello there," she spun around to see a boy standing not far from her. From the looks of him he had to be at least sixteen. He was tall and had lots of dark brown curls.

"OH!" She yelped and then flew up into a tree faster than a lightning bolt. The boy chuckled. She noticed that he had a nice laugh. "Don't be afraid! My name is Orion and you must be an airbender!"

"How did you know?" She called from the tree.

"Only airbenders can move like that. Please come down! I won't hurt you!"

She slowly ascended to the ground and when she landed, she left a good distance between her and the strange boy.

"Where did you come from? Two seconds ago I was totally alone!"

"I live in the house over there," he pointed to a small cabin in the clump of trees not far away.

"Oh, well now I must be going, Orion."

"You need to at least tell me your name."

"I don't talk to strangers," she hissed.

He chuckled again and slowly advanced towards her. The first thing she noticed was his eyes. They were a beautiful dark grey, like the sky before a storm.

"What could it hurt?"

She smiled and bowed.

"Malu, my name is Malu."

"Malu," his voice purred over the name sweetly. "I like it!" He chirped. "How old are you?"

"Now you are stretching it."

"Please?"

She sighed in defeat.

"I'm sixteen."

"I am sixteen too! Isn't that funny?"

"Not really," she responded. "But, I really must be getting back."

"Those are neat tattoos by the way."

Her face was so warm, she thought for a moment she had caught a fever. What was this? Why was she blushing? What a silly thing to do!

"Can I see you again, Malu? I'd like to be your friend."

The small blush grew into a larger one and it was beginning to irritate her.

"I'm not really supposed to have friends, Orion."

"All right, then." His voice was low and obviously disappointed.

"But, I suppose I could come visit you every once in a while."

He smiled.

"Good, meet me next week, right here."

She bowed, opened her glider and flew back to the temple, a bundle of flowers in her hands.

Time passed and she and Orion became best friends. Telling each other every secret they had, going on adventures and just laughing together. She told him all about her culture, her beliefs and her life in the Air Temple, and he told her about growing up in the Earth Kingdom and the move to this little hut, to be the sole provider of wheat to a nearby village. Soon they were inseparable.

One day while she was meditating, her mind wandered to the boy. Suddenly she couldn't eat, she couldn't breathe. What was this?

"Malu, you've seemed so distant lately. Is there something on your mind?" Lio had asked.

"What does love feel like?"

"I don't really know, Malu. A Nun must cut herself off from the world, not endear herself to earthy desires like love."

"So a Nun can never love?"

"Well, there have been those who have considered it their duty to repopulate the Air Nomad race, but any woman who wishes to remain a Nun, must not."

"Oh."

Of course, after this she promised herself that she would never see Orion again; for fear that she might discover that she was in love with him. She sent him a letter telling him that she would not communicate with him any longer.

But every night she dreamed, of his eyes, of his lips.

_Whoa, Malu. Not the lips! _

But it was no use, without Orion, her life seemed empty and vacant. She was totally, desperately in love with him. He was the only thing she ever dreamed of now, the only thing she wanted. Finally, she could no longer stand the pain. It was all too easy, waiting till everyone else was asleep and then sneaking out to see him.

She flew into the pouring rain and to his little house. She pounded on the door, screaming his name. When he opened the door, there were tears pouring from her eyes.

"Malu, what are you doing here?"

"Hello? Who is there?" Orion's father asked.

She laughed nervously through her tears, causing her to hiccup.

"I just couldn't. I couldn't."

"Couldn't what?"

"Oh, spirits Orion! Surely you must know."

"Malu, I don't under-MMPH!" She had grabbed the boy's nightshirt and flung her lips upon his. They were so soft, it was like kissing silk. Yet his breath was warm and heavenly. Her tears were scattered upon his face.

She pulled away, breathing heavily and blushing like she'd never blushed before and she loved it.

"I love you, Orion."

Orion's father groaned and sat down in the rocking chair.

"This can't be good," he muttered.

But Orion was grinning from ear to ear.

"And the Nuns tried to tell me I couldn't….."

"That's why you wrote that letter."

She nodded. He chuckled as he wiped some of the wet hair from her eyes.

"This is not funny," she hissed.

He smiled and stroked his thumb over her lips.

"I love you too."

And with that, he returned her kiss, just as passionately, just as earnestly. She thought her heart would explode from the utter and complete happiness now swelling in it.

"Come in my dear, or you will die from cold," his father suddenly interrupted. And Malu finally let go of Orion's lips and did as she was asked.

The next morning she was wearing the betrothal bracelet he had made for her months before. Apparently, he had known that she'd come eventually.

"They'll have noticed I've gone now," she whispered, her lips against his. "You better be worth all this trouble."

He chuckled and kissed her nose.

"You'd better go."

She laughed and kissed his lips quickly and then flew off towards her home. When she arrived at the door of the Temple, Sister Lio was all ready there waiting for her. She looked unnaturally worn beyond her years.

"Where have you been?"

"I've been.."

"Oh, Malu," she whispered, noticing the pendant hanging from her wrist. "That's not what I think it is, is it?"

"Yes, it is."

Lio sank to a nearby bench, burying her face in her hands.

"You know what this means, don't you?"

"Yes, and I've come to say goodbye," she responded.

"I thought I'd scared _that_ notion out of you," Lio hissed.

"For a while, but then I decided that he was more important."

"This is all wrong, if you were to get married, you were supposed to marry an Airbender! You know this!"

"But, I'm in love with him. And we are going to get married."

Lio sighed.

"You will never be welcome here again," she mumbled, tears decorating her cheeks.

Malu nodded and softly kissed her hand.

"I do not ask for forgiveness my beloved Lio, and I know I shall receive none. I love you, and I always will. But, with Orion I've found myself, I've found my soul mate."

Lio couldn't help but smile through her tears.

"Yes, my dear pupil. I've known for a while that you would make this decision. I just didn't see it ending quite like this."

"What?"

She laughed.

"I had a vision when you were a very small child that you would leave here."

She kissed Lio's hand one more time and then disappeared into sky without a second glance at her childhood home.

Two days later she was a married woman. They were so blissfully happy together, sharing every day, kissing on summer days in the sunlight. And before she knew it they were expecting!

But happiness is fickle. Not long after the news had been spread that the she was pregnant, Orion fell deathly ill with an unknown ailment. He had a terrible fever and would often hallucinate. Malu tended to him every night earnestly praying that the Spirits would save him.

One night, he turned to her and spoke his last sensible words.

"Don't cry, stranger."

"Please, don't go, Orion."

"I love you, Malu my darling."

And then he was gone. Everything she had given meant NOTHING. He'd been taken from her. He'd been stolen from her. Her heart broke into a million little pieces that day. She was so heartbroken, that slowly she stopped using airbending, less and less, until one day she no longer felt the air; she no longer felt one with the sky.

But, the little baby inside of her was still growing, giving her a little taste of joy through each little nudge and kick. When it came time to deliver the small child Orion's father rushed her to the Nun's in hope that they would take her in, and upon seeing her condition, Lio openly began weeping and let them inside.

Lio was watching Malu, and she was pale as a ghost. It was as if Lio knew Malu would not survive this ordeal. Malu knew it too of course, but she had to deliver this baby, she just knew it. It was her destiny. Lio helped her breathe and push in the correct places. And slowly, her body began to lose what spirit and will it had left.

After several hours like this, she had given birth to a healthy baby boy. The process had tired her to the bone and she now was barely breathing.

"Can I see him now?" she whispered, her body was so weak she could barely utter the words.

Her father nodded and handed the naked little child to Lio who wiped him off and then wrapped him in a blanket. He had dark hair, like an airbender, and storm grey eyes like Orion.

"What's his name?"

The little boy in her arms cooed softly. She looked down at the boy, his eyes were big and grey. He was blinking at her curiously. She could feel the strength in her body starting to wane. Her spirit felt so tired.

"Aang, his name is Aang."

She smiled and kissed her little Aang on the forehead before finally giving into the great sleep which welcomed her with warm arms and Orion's voice.

-x-

Years later when Sister Lio saw Aang again she was astonished. He looked just like his mother, except for the eyes of course. Malu had brown eyes, like most young Airbender girls.

As she watched him she was grieved that he would never know his mother's pain as she had. He would never know what his mother had given. She'd made the ultimate sacrifice for that little boy. And as he laughed she noticed he laughed a lot like his mother had. She looked at him and he seemed to notice the way she stared and he waved as he climbed on to his bison's back.

When Monk Gyatso wrote her and told her that the little boy was the Avatar, she wept for days. She suddenly understood everything, every tear, and the Malu's choice that would eventually end her life.

"Malu, I wish that saying I'm sorry would suffice. It seems that your sacrifice for this child did not go unheeded by the Spirit World. I now know that _Aang _was your destiny. This was supposed to happen. I'm so sorry I doubted you, my dear pupil."

As the gentle wind blew through her hair she smiled.

"My Malu," she whispered.

-x-

-A/N-

Name choices-

Malu has several different translations. In Hawaiian, it means protection, shelter, peace. In Polynesian, (used generally for boys, but I wrote this with this specific definition in mind) Malu means a gentle wind, a calm wind.

Sister Lio actually appears in the series (Appa's Lost Days). I just wondered why she automatically came up to Aang first.

Orion, I read somewhere (don't know how accurate it is though) that this name can mean origin.

- "I Dreamed a Dream"-

_I dreamed a dream of time gone by, _

_when hope was high and life worth living._

_I dreamed that love would never die, _

_I dreamed that God would be forgiving._

_Then I was young and unafraid_

_And dreams were made and used and wasted._

_There was no ransom to paid, _

_No song unsung, no wine untasted._

_But the tigers come at night,_

_with their voices soft as thunder_

_as they tear your hope apart,_

_as they turn your dream to shame._

_And still I dream she'll come to me,_

_that we will live the years together._

_But, there are dreams that cannot be_

_And there are storms we cannot weather._

_I had a dream my life would be, so different from this hell I'm living._

_So different now from what it seemed, _

_now life has killed the dream I dreamed." _-Fantine in Les Miserables


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